"It all starts when a man comes to deliver a message to former government agent Frank Compton - then falls dead at his feet. The message is a summons from the Spiders - enigmatic aliens that are part organic and part machine - who run the Quadrail, a remarkable transportation system that connects civilizations throughout the galaxy. Their message: Someone is preparing to attack the entire network and the worlds it serves with battleships smuggled through the Quadrail - something that should be impossible to do. They need Compton, with his sharp skills of observation and military training, to find the elusive enemy whose nature is a complete mystery."

"As he gets closer to unraveling the unknown, Compton gets the growing feeling that he is in danger from all directions - from those preventing him from uncovering the far-flung conspiracy, from enemies suddenly appearing out of his past, and from the addictive, powerful force behind the scheme to destroy every civilization in the galaxy."--BOOK JACKET.